Testimonies
by ShatteredLyre
Summary: Because how else can you really get to know a couple in love than from their friends, the people who were witnesses to their love from the start? Documenting all different forms of love, starting with Yoh and Anna who have the highest, purest kind.
1. Opening Credits

Testimonies

* * *

**Summary**: _Because how else can you really get to know a couple in love than from their friends, the people who were witnesses to their love from the start?_

**Rated**: T for occasional swearing. Occasional.

**Pairing**: Yoh/Anna, potentially more to come as well. **edit:** executive decision--instead of using my other OTPs like I usually do, I want this story to be as canon as possible so I'll stick with Yoh/Anna for the romantic love stuff and perhaps Faust and Eliza and use canon storyline families, friendships, etc.

* * *

"This…is utter bullshit!" Redseb announced to the nearly empty inn as he kicked his book bag under the table. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

Seyram smirked. "What is it, big bro? Do you think that your film professor is…how did you put it…'curbing your creative process and completely defeating the point of what it means to be an artist'?" She glanced at the digital watch on her wrist. "Oh goodness, and it's only been nine school days into the semester."

Redseb scowled and pointed an accusatory finger at her general direction. "Shut it, Seyram. Just because you're some high and mighty science major and think that the arts are a waste of time—"

His younger sister laughed. "You know that's not how I feel." She smiled genuinely at him. "I'm only teasing. I'm really excited for this year. Don't the junior film majors make a video for their semester project?" she inquired, looking actually curious for once.

Redseb looked blankly at her. "Wh-What? Whoa, you're actually interested in film?"

She rolled her eyes. "If it's one by you, then yes."

He shook his head. "Er…anyways, well it's nothing to be excited over now that our dumb professor has _ruined_ it," he grumbled menacingly.

"And here comes the storm…" Seyram sighed, throwing up her hands. "You know, Redseb, you do your kind injustice. You hate the stereotype that all art majors are melodramatic but look at yourself, you're the resident drama queen of the whole school!"

"If _your_ teacher told you that you had to make a documentary, what would you say?" Redseb cried out.

Seyram did a double take. "You're…not serious are you? Your class is called _Documentaries and Film_. You…surely knew that there was a slight chance that _maybe_ you'd be asked to make a documentary?"

He grimaced and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Mature," she said curtly.

"Well, I didn't mean it like that. We all drew random topics for our documentaries from a hat…" He sat down and stretched out in the chair of the inn's kitchen. "I _was_ excited at first. Like someone got 'inner city relations' and another drew 'social justice and its current role in our community.'"

"So what did you end up getting?" his little sister asked, calmly sipping her bubble tea.

"Love in all its forms."

Seyram promptly spurted out said bubble tea as she began giggling uncontrollably. "And what's wrong with that? I thought you were Mr. Romanticist!"

He pounded his fist on the table. "What the hell am I supposed to do for that! It's so damn broad, I don't even know where to start!" he whined.

"Oh, shush, there's tons of different places to start so you won't be overwhelmed. There's familial love, love between friends, love between mentor and disciple, romantic love—"

He frowned a little. "Yeah, I figured as much. I already have a vague idea where to start for those but—"

"Thing one and thing two, out! Out of the kitchen before _Mistress_ Tamao has our heads on a chopping block for tonight's supper!" came a loud, grating bark. Macchi, Mari and Kanna stepped into the kitchen to usher the brother and sister out.

They reluctantly complied and moved to the lobby of the inn. "Geez, you can even film a scene describing a _blatant lack _of love," Seyram said sarcastically, jutting her thumb in the direction of the Hanagumi waitresses. "What were you saying before?"

"I literally have no clue though what I'm going to do for the last kind of love." He scratched the back of his head. "I feel like whatever I come up with can just be pigeonholed into all the other classes of love you said earlier."

"What's the last kind?" Seyram asked curiously.

"_Agape_." After seeing that it didn't register with Seyram, he explained. "_Agape_. You know, the highest and purest form of love there is, definitely surpassing all the other kinds. I think that whatever I pick for _agape_ is going to be torn apart by my professor when I show it to the class and then he'll interrogate me why I picked…Seyram, you're not even paying attention!"

She turned around quickly, having been looking around the lobby instead. "Oh, sorry. No, no, I was listening. And I think I got an idea for that last part!" She smiled and pointed at an old, worn out paper posted behind Tamao's front desk.

_Certificate of Ownership_

_This establishment_, The Funbari Onsen_, is officially recognized by the Tokyo Regional Board as being owned by_ Kyoyama-Asakura Anna_ and_ Asakura Yoh.

"Why not start with the people we know are capable of the most love?" Seyram asked happily.

Redseb's eyes widened. "Why hadn't I thought of that? Of course, they would be the obvious choice; they love each other to bits, they loved us and everyone else they've come into contact with over the course of their entire lives, and they even love their enemies…Oh wait, _that's_ why, because it would be really weird if I asked them!" Redseb exclaimed.

Seyram pouted.

"_Dear Yoh,_

_Please tell me about your relationship with Anna, down to the very last detail. Don't worry, _nothing_ is too personal! We'll just stick all the details into this documentary and then I'll show it to my entire film class! No worries!_

_Okay, thanks, bye,_

_Redseb_"

"You know, you don't have to be so sarcastic," Seyram muttered. "And I wasn't going to propose writing Yoh a letter while he's in America…not that he'd respond to you anyways…"

"Then what? I mean, using Yoh and Anna for _agape_ is perfect but I don't know what to do."

"Simple," Seyram said, having a knowing smile on her face. "Testimonies."

"Come again?"

"Testimonies!" she repeated. "Come on now! You can interview all of Yoh and Anna's friends." She placed her hands on her hips, full well knowing that she had a good idea. "Because how else can you really get to know a couple in love than from their friends? You know, the same people who were witnesses to Yoh and Anna's love from the start!"

* * *

**A/N**: cool, informative chapter is out of the way. The remainder of this story will be told in the first person, with each chapter containing one of Yoh/Anna's friends' thoughts and reflections on the happy Asakura couple's relationship and the kind of love they have :) mostly inspired by the style of Dualism's story _Tinted Rose_ (who writes for the Kingdom Hearts fandom). I might expand on this later into one huge collection of testimonies on other pairings and even siblings, parent relationships, who knows! :D I'm pretty excited since I have the next three chapters already written out. also, if you missed it, _My Commensal_ and _Our Story_ have been updated as well as a new story _Stupid Questions_.

Also, this is set post-Funbari No Uta. About the same time frame as _Flowers_ because Redseb and Seyram would probably be university student age (around 18-21 years old since Hana is 13-15) :)

**Please do leave a review!** I'm really, really excited about this and I really want to hear what you think! :)


	2. Usui Horohoro on Agape

Hi, there. Um, is this thing on? Oh…er, sorry about that, man. Yeah, I see the blinking light. That means it's recording, right? Anyways…the email says to…state my name? Right. I'm Usui Horohoro. Horo. Horokeu. Whatever floats your boat.

I guess I'm here mainly because Yoh's my best friend and…Anna….she's there. In my life. In a big way. Yoh and I go way back and ever since I could remember, Anna's been with him all the time. At first I really didn't like her. I mean, she's Anna, a lot of people don't, you know? Not exactly the sweetest girl on the face of the planet. But I suppose I didn't like her because I didn't understand.

Hell, no one can blame me for not understanding them and whatever they had between them; no one can understand that…that immense, huge love and it's not _just_ love, mind you. No one can fully just…_get_ that respect, that understanding, that trust that exists between them. It's way too far out of reach for anyone else but the two of them to know.

I think what I'm trying to say is that when I first met Yoh and when that evolved into hanging out with Yoh and then that turned into having Yoh as my best friend, I didn't understand why he was so willing to be engaged so fast. I mean, hello, we were only what, thirteen or fourteen? The concept of being married and engaged was way too foreign and distant for this brain to handle.

Over time though, even if I'd given up on understanding _them_, Yoh and Anna, YohandAnna, Yohna, whatever people had taken to calling them, I began to know and get Yoh and to know and get Anna. Individually. And they were so mature about… well, everything really. It's kind of mind-blowing to think about. Yoh is so carefree and childlike, you'd never think he had the ability to be deep to any extent. But he did. Does, actually. He does.

Same with Anna. What turns a lot of people off with her is that she seems so cold and distant. Nah, not exactly. She just seems, at first, to be so one track minded. Like, she knows what she wants and she _will_ get it, despite what anyone has to say. It's a little bit immature in a way. Like a kid who'd throw a temper tantrum. Except, instead of screaming and crying, she can just end you. Oh, boy, if she heard what I was saying about her, I'd be dead.

But then you get to know her. And, of course you don't tell her _this_ part, you begin to have this overwhelming sense of…of respect towards her because you finally realize how mature she is beyond her years. How freakin' smart she is. She has everything figured out and she doesn't go around shoving it into your face like a lot of people do. But she has Yoh figured out more than anyone could even think of. That's what makes them perfect I guess. No one would guess it because…well, I suppose they would but it's for the wrong reasons.

Like a lot of those teenage girls would just nod as if they had been in on it all along and say, _Well, duh, they're perfect for each other. It's because opposites attract_ and all they see is this lazy, cheerful boy and this solemn, strict girl who is sort of emotionally roughed up. But their love, just them and what it means to be 'Yoh and Anna'…it's beyond any stereotyped, opposites attract kind of bullshit.

I guess to a lot of people who don't know them, they look like complete opposites. I think the reason why their relationship works so well the way it does…Ah, that's funny to think about because again, people who don't know them probably would think that their relationship is bad or even borderline abusive on Anna's end. Heh. Anyways, the reason it works so well is that… come to think of it, they aren't opposites. Sure, their demeanors are like black and white but what makes them…_them_ is actually really almost the same.

They both came from the same place. Odd if you take it in a literal sense—Yoh was from a privileged background, surrounded by family while Anna was an orphan and grew up in a rigorous household. But…strip all of that away, to start with, they were a pair of lonely kids. It's a little bit…perfect that they found each other. They push themselves and each other and expect no less. They have these friggin' big, overarching dreams and hopes that have _everyone's_ best interests at heart. That's pretty hard; sure, a lot of people say that they're…they're philanthropic or whatever the hell…but to find someone who _genuinely_ wants the best for _everyone_ that's pretty damn rare. And to find _two_ people like that? Two in a billion.

You can't sum up their relationship, their dynamic in some clichéd phrase. What they have is…it's bigger than that. It's bigger than anything. It's bigger than all of us. What they have is more real than anyone can imagine.

They're perfect for each other because they're not perfect for each other. They're perfect for each other because they, individually, are imperfect. I don't even know if that makes any sense but I think this is the closest I've ever gotten to describing them. Yoh and Anna aren't going to sit around and finish each other's sentences for them or just magically know what the other is thinking. I don't mean perfect in that…sense. You know, that actually sounds kinda unhealthy if anyone was in a relationship like that.

They fuck up, they make up. They forgive each other for it. They love each other for it. Why? 'Cause they're both mature. They're both flawed in their own ways. Sometimes they help each other overcome their shortcomings. They help each other through their imperfections. Sometimes they don't help each other because they know…they just flat out _know_ each other so well, their limitations, what they should help each other with, what they should let the other learn on their own.

It's kind of…well, damn, it's kind of beautiful in a way. Just seeing them together. It's really beautiful just seeing them with each other.

I'm a little bit jealous now.

_(Laughs)_

_

* * *

_**A/N**: holy crap, I didn't know that the first chapter would be so popular. I mean, a bunch of people have added this to their favorites list and…well, I mean nothing really had happened in the first chapter :P though, don't get me wrong; I'm _not_ complaining, not at all! Thank you so much to everyone who has read, faved, alerted, and especially reviewed! I really hope that this first chapter lived up to everyone's expectations. Yeah, it sounds pretty deep and insightful considering it's Horo but now that he's in his late twenties and reading that chapter on his perspective on Damuko…I think that he's pretty capable of this level of emotional maturity (but I tried to write in a style that still sounded like him) :) what do you think?

I hope I didn't disappoint anyone with this :/ I promise I'll try to do my best with each chapter! Next is Tao Ren! :D

also: 1. Lycoris Calantha drew some awesome fanart for _Yoh and the Oni_ :D thank you so much, dear. check it out on my profile page :)

2. if you want to know what I'm up to in terms of writing, check out my fanfic livejournal: shatteredlyre . livejournal . com (friend me if you have a LJ!)

**Please leave a review!** I really would love to hear what you thought about it! Or even if you agree or disagree with his view on Yoh and Anna's relationship, anything! I want to hear it! So review! ;)

Happy days!


	3. Tao Ren on Agape

All right, let's get this over with already. Name? Tao Ren. I've known Asakura for quite some time now. Same with Kyoyama. So, what exactly do you want?

…You can't be serious. You just want me to _talk_? That's it? What the hell…what is that supposed to…

God.

I thought he was kidding. There's a start. Yes, I thought he was kidding. About being engaged, that is. This was around when we were fourteen I suppose. I didn't really…understand why he would get engaged. Scratch that, I didn't understand why anyone would get engaged to _him_. Don't get me wrong, Asakura is one of the very, very, _very_ few people I actually respect and can tolerate for more than five minutes at a time voluntarily. But he was so…self-sufficient. Not that he was revolting to females by any means. It's just that I didn't understand why anyone would want to spend the rest of their life with someone who was so perfectly at home with being an individual. A singular entity.

He was most himself in a large group of people but those closest to him can still tell that he's isolated. Not in a cold, standoffish way that _I_ specialize in but a quiet, sort of inner peace that he had with himself; so different from people who thrive off of interacting with others, who _need_ to be around other people at all times just to reassure themselves of their own worth. Asakura was…different. Even back then. Even at fourteen.

So that's what I found so ridiculous. I never saw him as being married, or engaged in any romantic relationship. He seemed to be beyond such trivial, stupid things. Things of human invention. There, I said it. The way he is, how he acts when he isn't being a lazy ass, it's almost non-human. No one could be that perfectly calm in dire, life threatening situations, no one can be that forgiving towards people who _literally_ couldn't rest until they had his head on a platter.

His virtues and his actions were so damn altruistic, it was sickening. But then when I finally had the…_pleasure_ of meeting Kyoyama… She was comfortable with herself to the very brink of being prideful of it. It was obvious that she exuded the very essence of independence. And she could see that Yoh did too, which a lot of people do not see, even his closest friends.

What they both have that is so rare is that they know and carry out the true meaning of independence. Independence is not merely a lack of dependence on others. Independence is learning to be dependent on oneself. With that comes clarity and with clarity one is able to know his or herself. And once you know yourself and know what you need and know what you want then you are able to do something about it. For Kyoyama and Asakura, as disgustingly perfect as it seems, they were able to see that what they needed and what they wanted more often than not converged into the same thing.

Which they found in each other.

By first being responsible for themselves and gaining self-knowledge, their relationship was not tied to their existence. It was not simplified down to assigning their entire self worth to the relationship or to each other. The entire time they had been together, they constantly reminded themselves that they were, in fact, individuals before meeting each other. That they had had their own separate lives before even knowing of the other's existence.

Rather, they completed each other. In a nice way, I grudgingly admit. It wasn't that they couldn't live without each other but instead that they completed each other, where one had gaps and weak points, the other filled them in. By knowing that they could live, though the quality of life without each other is inevitably going to be worse, on their own allowed them to be in the relationship for sincere reasons rather than self-centered and self-gratifying.

Hopefully my line of reasoning does not become convoluted but a clear dichotomy has been set up between Asakura and Kyoyama and just about every other couple out there. Many people go about their relationships with the mentality that they cannot live without the other. They assign self-worth to the successes and failures in their relationship, taking it personally and as a blow to their own character and capabilities if the relationship falters. Thus, many people will hold onto the other, refusing to let the relationship fail for greedy reasons: so that they feel adequate and competent and successful. The right reason is no longer the priority or the main intent of the participants in the relationship: that they genuinely care about the other person. Oftentimes, the absolute, base fear of failing causes the couple to hold onto each other to the point of strangulation, after which the relationship literally chokes off, shudders and dies, imploding in on itself painfully and usually drawn out over time. Just shoot it and put it out of its misery if you are going to do that.

On the other hand, since Kyoyama knows that she can survive without Asakura and since Asakura knows he can survive without Kyoyama, they are able to go about their business not for themselves but for each other and for the sake of the concept of each other instead of for themselves. Getting to know yourself and your priorities and your values is already an act that you do for yourself. Then comes being in a relationship which should be mainly done for each other.

It dawned on me a little later, that their relationship wasn't one of those petty, squabbling variations. It was… mature. Rather refreshing to see for a change. Instead of all that sappy, I-think-I'm-going-to-vomit, public display of affection to the max, I-love-you-honey-kisses, sort that makes me seriously contemplate suicide these days. They were first and foremost true to themselves which made them capable of having a relationship that strong with each other. Because otherwise how can you even hope to be responsible for, be accommodating of another person when you don't even know yourself?

Just further proof that Asakura and Kyoyama are the only human beings in this world at this moment who should be allowed to be in a relationship. They were built for this. Being engaged and being in…love or whatever.

Most importantly though, they were made for themselves and for each other. That's what everyone is missing nowadays I think. First for yourself and then only can you be for each other.

_(Snorts)_

Or something sappy and philosophical like that.

* * *

**A/N**: oh my god, I rewrote this nearly a dozen times and considered giving up (the first few original drafts were around 500-600 words...this is like twice that length). I tried to get Ren's voice in there as much as I could without being too cynical. Though I think maybe now that he has seen Anna and Yoh and now that he is married, his take on relationships and love and such is not as cynical anymore. What do you think? :)

next up is Pirika! After that will be Lyserg and Tamao. I haven't really done any thinking as to who else I should write after them so please write down any requests for characters I'm overlooking in your review! :) Thanks!

**Please do leave a review!**

Expect erratic updating of all stories (that is, I'll probably either update like crazy this weekend or I won't at all since I have a hell week coming up in school). Also, I recently put up a new _My Commensal_ chapter (it's LysergJeanne) and a new chapter for _Our Story_ (YohAnna). If you're interested in this, you might also want to give _Critical Condition _(aka: my big, fat story) a read while I'm killing myself at school/not updating for long periods of time in these next few weeks.

check me out: shatteredlyre . livejournal . com

I swear to God, once I'm done with this crappy week at school and AP tests, I'll respond to all the reviews on all my stories. I promise. I'll try my best to produce quality work and to respond to you guys! sorry if I have failed you thus far :/


	4. Usui Pirika on Agape

Hello!

_(Waves)_

I'm Usui Pirika! Nice to meet you! …Er, sort of, kinda meet you, I mean… Does this technically count as meeting even if we aren't face to face? Maybe it does…or maybe it doesn't… Anyways, I better get on with it.

Let's see…now how did I meet Yoh and Anna…It was such a long time ago! The only reason why I know Yoh and Anna is because of my brother I guess. Before that, I only really knew Horo and my father. Not that big of a social circle. But then after Yoh and Anna came into my life…well, you know!

_(Giggles)_

I guess my point with that random little fact is…I didn't really have any first hand experience with romance or love or anything like that. My brother is super protective of me… not in a bad way…well, sometimes maybe it is…but he means the best! I just know it! Wow, I'm digressing a lot. Anyways, if any guy somehow made it past my brother's defenses…of me, then my father would have the poor boy's neck on a chopping block, guillotine poised and ready for action. So needless to say, I've never had a boyfriend so on that level I was very ignorant and uninformed.

But second, I mean, I lived in the _mountains_ for nearly my entire life until recently. All I had to go off of for what relationships looked like were reruns of decade old soap operas and romance novels older than me that I found in the discard bins of the local bookstore. My idea of what love and stuff like that was very skewed then.

So I suppose when my brother introduced Yoh to me and Anna as his fiancée, I got mad at Horohoro later because I thought he was lying. How Yoh and Anna interacted and treated each other didn't match what I had seen on the television or what I had read in those trashy books. For me, I thought that a boyfriend, much less a fiancée, was supposed to act like his girlfriend's knight in shining armor all the time. If Yoh showed even the slightest bit of chivalry towards Anna, she'd pound him into a pulp. They weren't holding hands every second of the day, I didn't see them kiss even once or say _I love you_ out loud to each other. I guess, that's why I thought Horohoro was lying to me. They didn't act like I thought they should act. I thought they were fake. I never even considered the possibility that the couples I had seen and read interacting from before were the ones who were fake and that Yoh and Anna were the only ones who were real.

Then over time, I had forgiven my brother and began to slowly accept the fact that Yoh and Anna _were_ actually engaged to be married. But it took a lot more to convince me that they were in love.

I think that I was one hundred percent convinced that they were in love and that their love was the purest thing I've ever seen was when Yoh was off in America. It was the day that Anna found out she was pregnant.

It was odd really. I was with her when it happened. She woke up like any other day, went into the bathroom like any other day, and then came out and joined us for breakfast like any other day. All of a sudden, after Kino left, she told me very quietly that she was pregnant. I started flipping out and running all over the place. If anyone saw us at that moment, they would think that _I_ was the one who just found she was pregnant, not Anna. I whirled around and asked if she wanted me to call Yoh and tell him to come home.

She drew her eyebrows together and went on eating her toast as if nothing had happened. After she gave no response, I asked her again. She looked me dead in the eye and asked if _I_ was crazy. I was…I was absolutely floored. If anything, to me at that time, _she_ was the one that was insane. Bona fide, one hundred percent, completely _mental_.

I can say confidently that the overwhelming majority of all girlfriends and wives would demand that their significant other be by their side when they find out that they're pregnant. Even more unbelievable was when Anna went into labor and just took it all by herself. Not once did she mention Yoh's name except for when she told me to _not_ tell him that she was giving birth. She didn't want him to know! Who _does_ that sort of thing? I mean, aside from Anna, of course. That kind of strength…amazing, I tell you. Just simply amazing. I have no idea if I could even do that myself. Eh, probably not. A lot of women wouldn't be able to really handle it that well, much less actively tell people to _not_ call their boyfriends or husbands or whatever when they're in that kind of situation. I asked her after the whole thing why she didn't want Yoh to know.

She simply replied that he didn't need to know. He had his own thing and she had her own thing. If he had found out, he would come home unnecessarily and postpone his journey and his progress in the tournament. She did it because she knew that his life's dream and goal would be pushed to the side for her. And she didn't want that. It was so…so…selfless. That simple act was just pure selflessness. She didn't take the easy way out and do what was convenient; instead, she put _his_ best interests before her own. She knew she could deal with it on her own. She knew that even thought it would be easier if he were there, which is why he probably would've come back to Japan if he ever found out, she could do it by herself. She didn't need him for that. She needed him to follow his heart and to follow his dreams. And Anna, knowing that he was out there doing the best in what he had wanted to achieve all his life, found strength in that fact, she found strength in the knowledge that he was working his hardest in _his_ thing. Which is why she would do her best in _her_ thing without any help.

I think that's when I realized it… that they were in love, I mean. I finally knew that love didn't mean you were going to be physically together twenty four-seven.

Instead, love gives you strength to handle things on your own.

* * *

**A/N: **huzzah! ...yeah. so I was wondering if people are just going to stop once all the YohAnna chapters are done and I start writing about family, friends, etc? Just curious, I won't hold anything against you.

Anyways, wow, thanks for all the suggestions for other characters! :) it was super helpful! and since you guys are pretty darn good at coming up with suggestions, help me find other kinds of love to write about after the agape chapters are done! :D haha, I've got Yoh's relationship with his grandparents, Anna/Yoh/Hana coming up (i'm excited about this one), Jun and Pailong's "master/servant" kinda deal, Pailong's love/devotion for his martial arts, of course Yoh/Manta's best friendship, Redseb/Seyram as siblings, Chocolove/Orona's mentor-disciple dynamic, perhaps Faust/Eliza...I need more! this is going to be epic! :) **what other kinds of love would _you (yes, you!_) like to see me write?**

Also, I've been sitting on this for a long time: so, I was looking at the archives for Shaman King and we have a little over 5,000 stories here... then I looked at the Naruto archives... nearly 150,000. It was kind of saddening since our fandom has been slowing down over the years. And I was thinking about the glaring lack of **writing contests/challenges** we have in the SK fandom...So, I suppose I'll start one! **PM me or leave it in your review** if you're even **remotely** interested in participating in one! :) let's get this fandom running again, guys! if enough people are interested, I'll give you further details (or check out the entry on my LJ: **shatteredlyre . livejournal . com**)! let's make this happen, okay? :D and if you win, I'll....um...I'll...write...you...something...? not much of a prize I know .___. heheh but I'll come up with something!

also, I posted a new _My Commensal_ if anyone is interested (though I know the pairing isn't popular--HoroTam)

**Please leave a review!** I'd like to hear what you think! (Lyserg is coming up)


	5. Lyserg Diethel on Agape

Um, hello there! Lyserg…er, sorry, I don't think the microphone was pointing directly at…oop, there we go. Heh, sorry. Lyserg Diethel here!

How long have I known Yoh? Quite some time. Yes, we've been through all sorts of things together… Yes, I have wanted to kill his brother at one point… Mmm, yes that is correct, I wanted to kill Yoh himself at one point as well…

But we don't talk about that anymore.

Anyways…Onto business, shall we?

I've been working as an investigator for quite some time now. My father was one of England's prime inspectors so one might say that it was in my blood. That I was born to be in this line of work and such. So logic and what is rational and reasonable is how I lead my life, how I define others, and how I see the world.

So seeing Yoh and Anna together…absolute chaos in my constantly calculating mind. Just physically, visually, them together…

She is the ice queen as half of Tokyo knows by now and the other half will come to know later on in their lives. Her skin is pale as snow, her hair rivals the color of dead, dried plants in the winter time. Her eyes are filled with silence and are inherently chilling and blank and she herself is nothing but a cacophony of angles, harsh lines, straight set lips and rigidity. Everywhere. Her essence is structured as if she had written what she _is_ exactly on paper hundreds and thousands of times and is forced to repeat it by rote memory every single day. Just seeing her exist, you can swear that you can hear a military riff going through your head: _one-two-one-two-left-right-left-right-shoulders straight, this isn't nursery school, troops!_ that is punctuated by a shrill whistle at perfectly timed intervals. Just being around her forces your spinal cord to straighten out stiffly and makes you sharp around the edges as you struggle to keep up with her eternal, silent schedule that only _she_ knows about. And yet, as horrifying as her quiet intimidation is, she is still beautiful in a porcelain kind of way. Except if you even know of her _name_, you understand that though she appears delicate, there is a layer of steel, iron, biting sadism, machine guns, knives, and grenades underneath that flawless exterior. You know that her ageless beauty is concentrated, focused, took years and endless hours of dedication and training and self-control.

And then Yoh…just…Yoh. He's a study in browns—sage, chestnut, taupe, hazel, oak. He is the earth, he is life with organic smiles and natural light in his eyes. His movements, his walk, his gait even mirror the rolling terrain of the country and he is just so at ease with himself that he naturally puts everyone around him at ease as well, letting all the stress and problems and worries you think you may have held before melt away. He is inherency at its finest and his naiveté it's…you just know that it isn't a product of training or experience. It is raw and unrefined and…Yoh. He has this sort of laid back rebelliousness that isn't forced or practiced…so opposite of everything and anything Anna stands for. His gentle demeanor behind his sun tanned and work roughened exterior contrasted sharply, suggesting pliancy and malleability that Anna's steely domineering demeanor would snap in half immediately. And…

Technically, they shouldn't get along. Which they don't. Or at least they appear to not get along. Logically, they shouldn't even be making an effort to be associating with each other. Rationally, they would've gone through their entire lives without even knowing of the other's existence.

But then, they're in love.

_(Smiles)_

And love has this odd, funny way of never being rational. Love is messy. Love is chaotic. Love is disastrous. Love is a train wreck waiting to happen. Love is massively catastrophic.

Then take out _love_ and substitute in _Yoh and Anna_.

See? They _are_ love.

Love can start wars, end lives, tear people apart. But in the end, you realize, after the smoke clears, it _really_ is something worth fighting for.

Yoh and Anna understand this. And that is why they work.

Because beyond the millions of reasons why they shouldn't be lasting this long after so many years of knowing each other, there stands one final, monosyllabic answer that defies everything and everyone.

Love.

You begin to see past their strikingly different…well, _everything_ and then you start observing. Observing how when Anna enters the room and sits next to him, Yoh subconsciously rearranges himself so that he mirrors her every subtle movement: a flick of her wrist, a simple tucking of hair behind her ear, a shifting of weight from one side of her body to the other. He repositions his body so that she is always at the center, the fulcrum, the axis of his attention, his angle. Observing the mutual understanding that they have, one that even people who have known each other for decades don't even possess. Observing how even though Anna pretends to not care about Yoh, the heavy eye bags and worry lines etching her normally flawless face the morning after a particularly trying day. Observing how Yoh's gaze lingers on Anna as he says that everything he does is for others.

And then you understand. You begin to share part of that understanding that Yoh and Anna have between them. Not completely possessing it, but sharing in it with them. It took me so long all those years ago to fully comprehend that that was how it should be. That I had been basing all my decisions and actions and thoughts and opinions on hatred while Yoh and Anna were basing all of theirs on something completely different. It was rational to hate the person who had murdered my parents in cold blood, who had committed hundreds and thousands of homicides ever since the beginning of time. But then Yoh and Anna taught me that what is logical is not always what is right.

And finally, you see out of the corner of your eye something that makes you forget how to breathe and blink and move. You see how one of her hands gently touches the top of his while she brushes away a loose thread from his shirt. Their eyes clearly revealing that they two were the only people alive in that world in that moment, even when they are out in the busiest streets in the busiest cities in the entire world. You see how her heels lift off the ground—barely, just barely—and how his feet are spaced just only noticeably a little farther apart than hers as if he were trying to encompass her, all of her with his own body. You never want this to stop as a smile graces his lips and eyes and a smirk flits across her face and you're wondering why no one else is watching because you think that it is the most perfect thing you've ever seen. And then everything comes rushing back around you—the ambient sounds flood your ears again, light inundates your visual field, your awareness of the dozens of other people around you kicks back in as they pull back from each other and your mind is left a little more fuzzy than it had been a few seconds ago as you begin seeing them again as a train wreck waiting to happen, suspended in real time.

But something in you knows that they somehow are still in love as a brave wandering hand gathers up enough courage to brazenly squeeze her shoulder affectionately. Logic, reason, and the rational be damned.

* * *

**A/N**: oh hi guys. yeah, I'm still alive. sorry this took so long to be updated. but yeah, Inspector Lyserg is an inspector (thought I might actually incorporate some of the stuff mentioned in _Flowers_ into my writing. teehee) so he would pick up on these things? At least, that's what I feel. Logic and whatnot being his life's work.

Please check out my newest story **_Saved!_** (yes I know it is RenPiri but there will be plenty of YohAnna. I guarantee it.)

Also, **_Our Story_** has been updated and I'm working on the next chapter.

And finally, **please, please, _please_ do leave a review, especially if you have this story or me on your faves or alerts list. **Thank you, it is very much appreciated.

Happy days! And check out my contest and LJ! (Next up is Tamao!)


End file.
